Mestisa at Mint Café

Mestisa                                           Photo:  Richard Wilcocks

For bookings: mestisauk@gmail.com

Tamara Carew writes:

We were treated to authentic South American sounds by a Yorkshire-based band, Mestisa. The foursome performed in Mint café, a very warm and intimate venue in Headingley. When listening to Mestisa's music it was hard not to feel as if you were being transported to some hot, sunny beach, or to a village high in the Andes. Their music choices were from across South America including Colombia, Paraguay and Peru. 

The songs, all of them in Spanish, many of them beautifully delivered by Ana Luisa Muñoz, often had humorous tales behind them, which the band was more then happy to share with the audience. I remember one song in particular that was dedicated to men with commitment issues. The rhythms - and the emotions - were strong. Towards the end of the evening, they played several cumbia pieces: this is a popular music genre throughout South America, especially in the Andean region. It is the result of musical and cultural fusion between Native Colombians, Panamanians and colonial Spanish people and was originally a courtship dance. Several members of the audience certainly danced in the Mint back room, though at a guess they were already married rather than courting

Towards the end of the first set there was some lovely poetry based on life lessons and learning from one's mistakes read in English by Richard Wilcocks -  I’ve learned by Paolo Coelho (Eu tenho aprendido), the most famous poet in Brazil, which was very moving. 

** Paolo Coelho's inspiring and symbolic story The Alchemist (O Alquimista) was first published in Portuguese in 1988, and has since been translated into many other languages. Take a look at his current blog to see the words of I've learned by clicking on http://bit.ly/1ebTkYQ 

Audience comments:

A fantastic evening. Delicious food, great music and fantastic singing and songs.

La música fue bellisima. Me encantó escuchar la idioma de español. Gracias.

Una noche maravillosa! Todos los miembros de la banda son verdaderos profesionales que tranmiten perfectamente toda la emoción de la música latinoamericana. El poema de Paolo Coelho fue leído muy bien en inglés. Creo que ahora voy a comprar su libro 'El alquimista'.

Brilliant. Very uplifting. Great music. Great food. Great poetry.

Fascinating and very moving music and poetry. Delicious food and friendly staff and patrons. A truly special and wonderful evening! Let's have more please.

Wonderful and cosy.

The music/poetry mix was very unusual and worked well in this wonderful, friendly, intimate venue. The musicians surpassed themselves with their virtuosity and sheer talent and the food was superb.

Beautiful music, lovely intimate and friendly venue. Great to experience Latin culture locally and Mestisa never disappoint. The reading was lovely too.

The evening especially the music was like a wonderful pot pourri of (unfinished)

Music was great and poetry was fabulous.